Ryan Spooner at the face off against the Worcester Sharks (Photo Credit: Stephanie Vail/Flickr)

The Providence Bruins currently sit down two games to the Hershey Bears in a 5-game series. For Providence, tonight is do or die.  Despite finishing first in the league with 105 points and 50 wins, statistics mean nothing when it comes to the playoffs.

Throughout the series the Bruins have struggled to find their rhythm and a large part of that is due to team inexperience when it comes to the postseason. There’s no question, when playoffs hit, a switch is flipped and the dirty,gritty game that originated back in the 1800′s comes to light. For the young Providence Bruins squad, this is a feat that many have yet to endeavor unlike their opponent Hershey Bears.

The Hershey Bears have been contenders in the AHL consistently for years. The Bruins haven’t been a factor since 2009. The expectations set forth on a team when they enter the postseason is a completely different mindset, one that the Hershey Bears were prepared to face at the drop of the puck in the first period of Game 1.  For the Bruins it took until the last game to fully understand what they were up against. While they put forward a better effort in Game 2, they still fell short losing in overtime.

Of the six goals the Bruins have scored this season, four of the scorers have appeared in the AHL playoffs before. The veteran presence is attempting to keep the team alive while the rookies who flourished in the regular season, flounder and try to stay above water. The Bruins can’t afford to have guys like Ryan Spooner, Craig Cunningham and Torey Krug ‘find their game’ in a five game series that could easily end in Saturday’s game.  They need to kick it into high gear and fast.

While the Bruins were able to turn things around and make major improvements, there are still plenty more to be made.  Their focus needs to be on containing the veteran AHL forwards that make up the offensive lines for Hershey and finding a way to break through them. If the Bruins can force the turnovers and create breakaway plays, they should be able to break down the Bears young defense and get to the net.

Like Svedberg, the Bears goaltender Phillip Grubauer is also making his playoff debut. The difference between the two, one is making saves while the other one isn’t (obviously).  Svedberg has been a brick wall all season long and is falling short when it comes to keeping his team in games. With the lack of faith and confidence in their goaltending, the Bruins are apt to fall apart. He, like the rest of the playoff-rookies on the team, need to get their heads in the game and push it to the next level if they plan on staying alive.

It’s do or die time for Providence as they head to Hershey to take on the Bears Saturday night.

This weekend the Providence Bruins began their journey in the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Hershey Bears. After being deemed the 2012-2013 regular season Champions, they now fight to remain in the running for the Calder Cup, dropping the first two games of the series to the Hershey Bears.

Friday night the Bruins debuted against the Bears at home with Michae Hutchinson between the pipes, resting Niklas Svedberg for the first game of the series.  However, the ‘resting’ was short lived as Svedberg came in to replace Hutchinson after he let in three goals.  Combined the two netminders stopped 30 shots on the evening while Jamie Tardif and Christian Hanson scored the two goals for Providence.

Much like their major league affiliate, penalties killed the Bruins in their first game of the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Bears getting an early lead int he first and running away with it through the next forty minutes. Despite a late effort from Providence, the deficit was too much to overcome and they ended up falling 5-2 in game 1.

Game 2 was played Sunday afternoon, this time Svedberg getting the start. In much of the same fashion the Hershey Bears got on the board first, when Stoa put a backhander past Svedberg just 3:14 into the frame. However, despite being down a goal, the Bruins dominated the play and after twenty, led the shots 25-8. Unfortunately, despite full-team efforts they headed into the locker room down 2-1, their best efforts coming from Camper and Tardif ringing the puck off of the post.

1:09 into the middle frame, the Bruins tied up the game with Jordan Caron being on the receiving end of a neutral zone turnover and zipping it up ice to a rushing Craig Cunningham.  Cunningham then fed a pass over to Carter Camper who was able to get the puck across the goal line to give the Bruins a boost of confidence and a fighting chance.  Just past the half way marker the Bears regained the lead, but not for long. Just 20 seconds later Chris Bourque blasted a shot from the blue line and lit the lamp, tying the game once again.

Through the final twenty of regulation the two battled hard for the deciding goal, resulting in each team scoring, sending the game into overtime.

It would be a penalty once again that killed the Bruins as Garnet Exelby took a high sticking call, putting the Bruins at a disadvantage large enough to sway the momentum into Hershey’s favor for Jon DiSalvatore to score the game-winning goal in the remaining 13 seconds of the powerplay.

Both teams now head to Hershey, the Bruins in dire need of a victory to stay alive otherwise they’ll be packing their golfing bags earlier than expected. Their next game is Saturday, May 4 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Did you know Niklas Svedberg is awesome? He is. (Photo Credit: Sarah Fuqua/Flickr: sapah_fu)

If the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs started today, the Providence Providence – the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference – would face the number 8 seed, the Hershey Bears. The two teams faceoff for the first time this season tonight at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA.

Providence has more wins than any other team in the AHL with 41. Their 41-20-0-5 record through 66 games gives them 87 points, a tie for best in the entire AHL along with the Texas Stars. To clinch a playoff spot, the P-Bruins only need 3 more points. They could clinch a playoff spot tonight through two scenarios:

• Providence win + Norfolk loss + Albany loss + Worcester loss
  
• Providence loss in overtime or shootout + Norfolk regulation loss + Albany regulation loss + Albany regulation loss + Worcester regulation loss

Hershey is a desperate team. They are coming off a 5-3 loss last night against Albany and trying to keep their playoff spot. They are currently 31-26-3-6 after 66 games, good for 71 points. That’s 4th in their division, the East, and 8th in the Eastern Conference.

At home this season, Hershey is 16-14-3-2. Providence is 19-11-0-2 on the road. In the last 10 games, Providence is 8-2-0-0 while Hershey is 4-5-0-1.

Providence has the better ranked power play at 9th in the AHL (18.4%) while Hershey is 12th (17.4%). Hershey has the advantage on the penalty kill, ranked 7th in the league (85.1%) versus Providence’s 10th ranked PK (84.5%). Last night, Providence failed to score on the power play in 7 opportunities in their win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while giving up 2 power play goals to the Penguins. In their loss against Albany last night, Hershey went 2-for-8 on the PP and 5-for-5 on the PK.

The P-Bruins PP might get a boost with the return of Torey Krug to the lineup after being reassigned to the AHL from Boston. He will take Tommy Cross‘ spot in the lineup. Krug’s offense will be greatly needed as Providence’s leading scorer Ryan Spooner is slated to miss his 2nd straight game with an upper body injury. Krug, the top scoring d-man for Providence, has 10 goals and 24 assists for 34 points in in 55 games this season, which puts him 5th overall on the P-Bruins. In his last 7 AHL games dating back to March 9th, Krug has scored in 6 of those games, notching 8 points. 4 of Krug’s 10 goals are on the PP, and he has 13 power play assists.

Graham Mink will also return to the lineup after sitting out last night. He will take the place of Alden Hirschfeld.

Niklas Svedberg will get his 3rd start in a row and look to get his 33rd win of the season, which would tie the impressive total of Tuukka Rask from the 2008-09 season. Svedberg is 32-7-2 with a 2.24 GAA and .923 save%. He will be backed up by Adam Morrison, as Michael Hutchinson is still sidelines with an injury.

Hershey’s goaltender is a former Providence Bruin, Dany Sabourin. Sabourin is 9-11-3 with a 2.69 GAA and .905 save%. The Bears top scorer is Jeff Taffe, who has 18 goals and 43 assists for 61 points.

The puck drops at 7:00 in Hershey. Check it out on AHL Live!

Christian Hanson returned to the lineup after sitting out with injury since March 10th. He reinvigorated his linesmates, who accounted for all of the P-Bruins points in regulation and the shootout. He got the game-tying goal in the 3rd period and the game-winning goal in the 8th round of the shootout. He is awesome.

It’s been 7 games since Christian Hanson has played for the Providence Bruins, but he didn’t miss a step when he rejoined the lineup tonight in a 3-2 shootout victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Hanson had a goal to tie the game in the 3rd period, sending the game to a shootout, where his 8th round goal clinched win number 41 of the season for Providence.

The gritty BuzzSaw Line was happily reunited – Hanson, Bobby Robins, and Justin Florek – and provided all the scoring for the P-Bruins, who went 0-for-7 on the power play and gave up 2 power play goals to the Penguins. The team was shorthanded with a last minute scratch to leading scorer Ryan Spooner, and although Torey Krug was sent back to the AHL after practicing with Boston this morning, he was not able to join Providence in Wilkes-Barre in time. Without their top scorers in the lineup and the other top scorers invisible on the scoresheet, the BuzzSaw line got the job done.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opened the scoring up at 13:15 of the 1st period on a power play goal from Dylan Reese, who netted his 7th goal of the season with Alex Khokhlachev sitting in the penalty box. Reese’s goal was assisted by Riley Holzapfel and Trevor Smith.

The Bruins tied the game up late in the 1st period on a goal from the most unlikely of sources – the excellent Bobby Robins. Robins got his 4th goal of the season at 18:37 of the 1st assisted by Florek.

The Penguins got a 5-on-3 power play opportunity in the latter half of the 2nd period when Robins was in the box serving a minor for charging and Garnet Exelby joined him with an interference penalty. Reese got his 2nd goal of the game with this 2-man advantage, his 8th goal of the season, assisted by Smith and Beau Bennett at 15:01 of the 2nd.

Hanson scored his 10th goal of the season to tie the game at 2 4:58 into the 3rd period, with an assist to Robins. Although Providence would get a full 2 minute 5-on-3 late in the 3rd period, they were unable to capitalize, and the game went to overtime.

Niklas Svedberg turned aside 4 shots in overtime, making his save total on the night 26 saves on 28 shots faced. Penguins goaltender Brad Thiessen made 26 saves on 28 shots as well. In the shootout, both goaltenders were perfect through 6 rounds. Thiessen stopped Bruins top scorers who failed to provide scoring all night – Craig Cunningham, Max Sauve, Jamie Tardif, Khokhlachev, Carter Camper, and Trent Whitfield.

Svedberg, too, stopped 6 shooters, but at the start of the 7th round, the Penguins’ Chris Collins beat Svedberg. Florek had to score to send the shootout to an 8th round. With one assist already on the night, and +2 rating and leading all skaters with 6 shots on net, Florek came up big with a goal in the shootout.

On to the 8th round, the Penguins put out shooter Adam Payerl. When he failed to beat Svedberg, Hanson was given the opportunity to clinch the win for Providence. And he did.

Robins was awarded 3rd star honors; Reese 2nd star; and Hanson was the 1st star in his 1st game back. He helped propel the Bruins to the top of the Eastern Conference, as the win – now giving them a record of 41-20-5 in 66 games – gives them 87 points. With a loss in overtime tonight, the Syracuse Crunch have 87 points as well, but have 1 more game played and 2 fewer wins. They are also tied with the Texas Stars for 1st place in the entire league. The Providence Bruins aren’t too shabby.

Svedberg’s win gives him 32 on the season – only 1 shy of the great record Tuukka Rask posted the last time Providence made the playoffs in 2008-2009. That year, Rask went 33-20-4. With 10 games left in the season, Svedberg is 32-7-2.

As the standings are right of this moment, the Providence Bruins would face the Hershey Bears in the 1st round of the playoffs. A good sense for how that playoff series might go can be seen tomorrow night when Providence takes on the Bears in Hershey for the 1st meeting between the two teams this season. This will be a must-see game, so consider going to the AHL website and checking out AHL live if you can’t physically be at the game. It’s gonna be a big game!

Svedberg owns. Pass it on.

Warning: this preview turns into an Iginla rant for a short while. I’m only a little bit sorry about that.

The Providence Bruins will look to get 2 points closer to clinching a playoff spot tonight as they take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barres, PA. It will be the 2nd and time these two defensively-solid teams faceoff this regular season, although there is a good possibility they will see each other in the 1st round of the playoffs.

Providence is currently 5 points from clinching a spot in the playoffs as the season is in its final weeks. Tonight will be game 66 in a 76-game season for the P-Bruins, who are, as of right now, the only team in the AHL to hit the 40-win milestone. Despite that, they sit in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference and 4th in the AHL with 85 points. They are comfortably atop the division, however, with a 10-point cushion on 2nd place Portland. Their current record is 40-20-0-5.

The Penguins are 35-28-2-1, which is 3rd in their division (the East division), and 7th in the Eastern Conference. In 66 games, they have 73 points – only 2 ahead of the Hershey Bears, a divisional rival nipping at their heels.

The Penguins are a defensively solid team with a little trouble scoring goals. They have an even goal differential with 155 goals scored and 155 goals given up. They have one of the best penalty kills in the league, and give up the fewest goals per game, but also score the fewest goals per game as well. Here are how the teams match-up:

• Last 10: Providence is 8-2-0-0; WBS is 6-4-0-0
• Goal differential: Providence is +22; WBS is 0
• At home, WBS is 17-13-2-1; Away, Providence is 17-11-0-2
• Against the East division, Providence is 2-0-1; Against the Atlantic division, WBS is 2-0-1
• PP: Providence is 7th (18.9%); WBS is 25th (14.2%)
• PK: WBS is 2nd (86.9%); Providence is 7th (84.9%)
• Goals Per Game: Providence is 15th with 2.88; WBS is 28th with 2.35
• Goals Against Per Game: Providence is 3rd with 2.54; WBS is 1st with 2.35
• Shots Per Game: Providence is 1st with 33.91; WBS is 18th with 29.83
• Shots Against Per Game: Providence is 7th with 28.71; WBS is 2nd with 26.00

In the only previous game between the two teams this season, Providence shutout the Penguins and won by a score of 2-0. Michael Hutchinson got the shutout in net, turning aside 20 shots. Jeff Zatkoff, one of the top goaltenders in the AHL who is currently unavailable for WBS, got the loss that night despite his splendid numbers on the season.

Ironically, Zatkoff and Hutchinson will both sit out tonight, as Hutchinson is still sidelined with an injury in which Adam Morrison is on recall for. Morrison will be on the bench to back-up Nicklas Svedberg tonight. Of the two P-Bruins that scored against the Penguins in the previous game this season, which was earlier this month, only one will appear tonight - Craig Cunningham, who was credited with the game-winning goal, will play while Graham Mink, who scored the games 2nd goal, will not play tonight. Both players scored last game as well (a 3-2 win on Wednesday over Portland). It is unclear why Mink is not playing.

Unfortunately the P-Bruins will be without two other top scorers: Ryan Spooner and Torey Krug. Spooner is a last minute scratch with an upper body injury. Krug is still on recall in Boston, along with Matt Bartkowski, who didn’t get traded. What a mess. Well, at least Alex Khokhlachev will play tonight. Hopefully he will get his first professional point.

Here’s another interesting fact: Mark Divver also commented that Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli would like to see if he could get Svedberg in to play a game or two for the Boston Bruins before the season ends. Don’t know how that will be possible with the busy schedule of the AHL and the playoffs but with the way they are treating the team like expendable pieces to sit around and stew while trades don’t happen and jerks choose WBS’s parent team in Pittsburgh to screw the Bruins organization over, I’m sure they will find a way.

No, I’m not mad about that at all. Go Bruins! (Sorry that wasn’t a very good preview…I totally had one ready, but then it all fell apart. Kind of like that Iginla trade.)

In summary, all you need to know going in to tonight you now know. Cunningham: hot hot hot. Also, Chad Kolarik, who played for the Connecticut Whale earlier this season, is a WBS Penguin now, so look out for him. Recently signed University of Minnesota-Duluth defenseman Chris Casto (ELC for Boston, ATO for Providence) will not play tonight, although he is expected to join Providence.

Brad Thiessen will probably get the start in net for the Penguins. Their other top scorers aside from Kolarik include Trevor Smith, Riley Kolzapfel, Paul Thompson, Beau Bennett, Brian Gibbons, and defensemen Dylan Reese and Brian Dumoulin.

As usual, special teams will be the difference – but especially in this case. With Spooner and Krug out, and Chris Bourque still injured, along with the Penguins great penalty kill, Providence could struggle to get the power play goals that usually give them the jump in their game or insurance goals they need to win games. Hopefully our other top scorers will come through – Carter Camper, Jamie Tardif, and Justin Florek, Kyle MacKinnon, and Max Sauve. Also, I’m looking at you David Warsofsky.

Craig Cunningham’s 2-point night moves him into a tie for 2nd on the team in points at 39. His 23 goals are a career high and 2nd on the team. He also has a team-best 164 shots on net in his sophomore season.

The Providence Bruins defeated the Portland Pirates in Portland last night by a score of 3-2, marking the teams 40th win of the season (the 1st team in the AHL to hit 40 wins this year) and positioning them 8 points away from clinching a playoff spot. Craig Cunningham and Ryan Spooner each had a goal and an assist and Graham Mink had the game winning goal while Niklas Svedberg made 30 saves in his 31st win of the season.

With 11 games left in the season, Providence has a record of 40-20-0-5. At 85 points, they are 2nd in the Eastern Conference, which is only 1 point behind the Conference-leading Syracuse Crunch and 2 points behind the AHL-leading Texas Stars.

Last night’s win finished off the season series against the Pirates. In 10 games against the divisional rival, Providence came out on top with a record of 6-3-0-1.

Spooner opened the scoring last night with the lone goal in the first period. The goal came on a power play at 9:20 of the 1st while the Bruins had a 5-on-3 advantage. Portland’s Brendan Shinnimin and Alexandre Bolduc were both in the penalty box when Spooner netted his 13th goal of the season from Carter Camper and Cunningham.

Providence took a 2-0 lead at 6:20 of the 2nd period on Cunningham’s 23rd goal of the season with assists to Kevan Miller and Spooner.

Portland cut the lead in half at 12:02 of the 2nd period on a goal from Jordan Martinook. Bolduc and Nick Johnson got the assists on Martinook’s 8th goal of the year. As has been a problem all season, the P-Bruins collapsed and let in a swarm of goals in a short period of time. Only 9 seconds later, Portland’s Ethan Werek got his 10th goal of the season to tie the game. Chris Brown and Shinnimin notched assists on Werek’s goal.

With just under 2 minutes to go in the 2nd period, Providence regained the lead on a goal from Mink. At 18:02 of the middle frame, Mink beat Portland goaltender Mike Lee for his 8th goal of the season with assists to Kyle MacKinnon and Trent Whitfield.

Providence held on to that lead for the remainder of the game, withstanding a power play late in the 3rd, and Svedberg turning aside 9 shots in the last period. Lee was equally perfect in the final period, shutting the door on 12 Providence shots. At the end of the night, Providence had outshot the Pirates 39-32.

The Bruins hopped on the bus after the game to travel to Pennsylvania where they will face off against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night.

Game Notes

• Alex Khokhlachev was a healthy scratch as he was to be traded along with Matt Bartkowski, who is on recall in Boston, to Calgary for Jarome Iginla. As we all know now, that trade fell through because everything is the worst. Koko traveled with the team to Pennsylvania and will presumably play on Friday.
• Due to Bartkowski’s impending trade, Torey Krug was called up to Boston yesterday as well. It is unclear if he will remain in Boston on call-up, when or if he will return to Providence.
• Spooner, who is returning from a Boston call-up of his own, led all skaters with 7 shots on net last night.
• Providence went 1-for-4 on the power play last night and a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
• Christian Hanson, who was questionable before the game due to a hand injury, did not play.
• The 3 stars were: (3) Jamie Tardif; (2) Craig Cunningham; (1) Ryan Spooner.

Torey Krug will fight you.

Torey Krug has been recalled to Boston and will be available for tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens at the TD Garden.

Krug hasn’t played in the NHL yet this season, although he has 2 NHL games under his belt from when he joined the team last season out of Michigan State University. He was signed as an unrestricted free agent.

He has 1 career point in the NHL. This season in the AHL with Providence, he has 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists), which is third most in rookie defensemen in the AHL and 5th on the Providence Bruins overall. He is the P-Bruins top blue line scorer.

Niklas Svedberg and his sweet Godfather mask will be back between the pipes tonight for Providence.

The Providence Bruins will meet divisional rival Portland Pirates for the 10th and final time in the regular season tonight when they face off in Portland, Maine. Portland spent much of the season atop the Atlantic division – the position that Providence now comfortably holds with an 8 point lead.

Team Numbers

• Providence (39-20-0-5) has 83 points in 64 games vs Portland’s (35-24-3-2) 75 points in 64 games.
• Providence sits 1st in the Atlantic, 3rd in the East, an 4th overall in the AHL; Portland is 2nd in the Atlantic, 5th in the East, and 10th overall in the league.
• Late 10: Providence is 7-2-0-1, Portland is 3-5-0-1.
• Providence is 17-11-0-2 at away games; Portland is 21-8-2-1 at home.
• Providence has 184 goals for and 163 goals against to Portland’s 189 goals for but 194 goals against.
• That’s a goal differential of +21 for Providence and -5 for Portland.
• Power Play: Providence is 8th in the AHL at 18.9%; Portland is 20th at 84.4%. Portland has let in a league-high 15 shorthanded goals-against; Providence has allowed 8.
• Penalty Kill: Providence is 9th in the AHL at 84.6%; Portland is 11th at 84.4%.

Goaltending

Niklas Svedberg will be getting the start after sitting out last weekend. He has a record of 30-7-2 with a GAA of 2.26 and .922 save %. Svedberg has started 7 of the previous 9 games against Portland this season and has a record of 4-2-1 so far with a 1.99 GAA and a .930 save %.

Mark Visentin will get the start in net for the Pirates. He has a record of 12-11-1, a 2.92 GAA, and .906 save %. Visentin has played 5 of the 9 games against Providence earlier this season, with 3 other goaltenders getting the start between the pipes previously for Portland. Visentin has fared with a record of 2-3-0 versus the P-Bruins this year with a 2.82 GAA and a .913 save % in 5 games.

Leading Scorers

Ryan Spooner will return to the Poovidence Bruins after a brief call-up to Boston. He remains the leading scorer for the P-Bruins with 45 points (12 goals, 33 assists). His points and assists totals place him 2nd in the AHL active rookies. He also has 14 assists on the power play, which is good for 3rd in the AHL among rookies.

Jamie Tardif is 2nd in scoring with 39 points (27 goals, 12 assists), followed by Carter Camper‘s 38 points (7 goals, 31 assists), and the streaking Craig Cunningham (37 points with 22 goals and 15 assists). Cunningham has scored 11 points in 9 games (8 goals, 3 assists), including 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists) in the last 2 games.

Torey Krug is 5th in Providence scoring, and 1st in Providence defense scoring with 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists). This point total places him 3rd among AHL rookie d-men.

For the Portland Pirates, Alexandre Bolduc leads them in scoring with 47 points (22 goals, 24 assists), followed by Andy Miele (39 points – 14 goals, 25 assists) and their top rookie scorer, Chris Brown (36 points – 24 goals, 12 assists). Close behind is Chris Conner with 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists) and top defense scorer David Rundbland (8 goals, 24 assists for 32 points).

Head to Head Match Up

In the previous 9 meetings this season, Providence has won 5 in regulation, lost 3 in regulation, and lost 1 in a shootout (5-3-0-1). They have gone 2-2 in away games, with their last win in Portland coming on December 1st when they beat Portland 5-2. The most previous meeting between the 2 teams was a 7-1 victory in Providence. The last 4 meetings between the teams has seen at least 7 goals scored total, with 7-1, 6-3, 5-2, and 6-1 scores all coming out of games since January 25th. Each team has won 2 and lost 2 of those high-scoring affairs.

Spooner, Zach Trotman, Trent Whitfield, Camper, and Christian Hanson have each been credited with game-winning goals against Portland this season. Spooner also leads in points against the Pirates this year, netting 10 in 8 games (4 goals, 6 assists) and has a rating of +5. 5 other P-Bruins each have 7 points against Portland this year: Cunningham and Tardif (each with 4 goals, 3 assists), Krug (3 goals, 4 assists), Justin Florek (2 goals, 5 assists), and Hanson (2 G, 5 A).

On the flip side, Portland’s Jordan Szwarz, Phil Lane, and Brown have had game-winning goals against Providence. Rob Klinkhammer, who is up with the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL, has by far the best record against Providence this season. Next in line is Jordan Martinook, who has 14 total points on the year, and 5 points in 6 games against Providence alone, as well as Brown, who has 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) in 7 games.

Roster Updates

Hanson, who hasn’t played since March 10th with a hand injury, is reportedly a “maybe” for tonight. Michael Hutchinson, on the other hand, will not dress as Svedberg’s back-up due to an upper-body injury. As a result, Adam Morrison was recalled from Utah of the ECHL earlier this week to fill in as Svedberg’s back-up.

The Bruins recently-signed Chris Casto, a defenseman fresh out of Minnesota-Duluth of the NCAA, is expected to join Providence, although it is not clear if he will play tonight.

Spooner returns to the Providence Bruins, where he is still the leading scorer.

It was announced earlier today that the Boston Bruins have reassigned Ryan Spooner to the Providence Bruins of the AHL. He was called up to Boston on Monday, March 16th after David Krejci sustained an injury and needed to sit out a game. It was his 2nd call up of this season and of his career. Although Krejci only missed one game, Claude Julien kept Spooner in the lineup for 2 more games because of his improved play.

Spooner’s 1st call up was back in early February when he appeared in one game against the Canadiens in Montreal. His linemates that night were fellow Providence call-ups Lane MacDermid and Jamie Tardif. In the 4th line role that night, Spooner had 5:29 time on ice and surprisingly was put out in the starting power play units, playing 1:33 power play time on ice. He took 4 face-offs and lost every single one, and got 1 shot on net.

This time around, Spooner was called up to play on the 1st line alongside Horton and Lucic. In his 2nd NHL game and 1st of this call-up, a 3-1 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg, Spooner got a much increased 15:29 time on ice, and 3:34 time on the power play. He had 2 shots on net and blocked 1 shot. He won 4 out of 8 face-offs (50%).

In the next game, a 2-1 win against the Senators in Ottawa, Spooner played in the spot of Rich Peverley, who was a healthy scratch. He centered the struggling 3rd line with Jay Pandolfo and Jordan Caron on his wings. With 8:17 time on ice and 1:22 of that time on the power play, Spooner recorded 1 shot and 1 hit. He was 4-for-7 (57%) in the face-off circle.

Finally, Spooner’s last game of this call up was last night’s loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto. He did not see any power play time in his 7:14 time on ice. He played on the wing of the 3rd line with Peverley and Pandolfo. Although he had a 60% success rate in the face-off circle (3-for-5), he had no shots, 1 shot block, and 1 giveaway.

After the frustrating loss, the Bruins have started from scratch with a complete revamp of all the forward lines as displayed in the team practice this morning. Spooner was not apart of that, as he was already sent back to Providence.

This likely won’t be the last we see of Spooner this season in Boston (although interestingly enough all 4 of his NHL games this season and thus in his career have all been away games). Meanwhile, he is still the leading scorer in Providence. He has 6 more points than the next highest scorer, Jamie Tardif; in 50 games played for Providence this season, Spooner has 45 points (12 goals, 33 assists). He is among the top rookie scorers in the AHL as well. He also has a rating of +8, and 7 power play goals.

Spooner will presumably will join Providence when they travel to Portland for their mid-week match-up against the Pirates this Wednesday.

Defenseman Kevan Miller had his first multi-point night of the year with 2 assists in Providence’s 5-3 loss to Worcester on Saturday evening.

The Providence Bruins fell to the Worcester Sharks at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA on Saturday evening in a 5-3 loss that was uncharacteristic of the previous 11 meetings between the 2 teams. It was the last game between the divisional rivals this year and despite the loss, Providence came out on top with a 6-5-0-2 record. Instead of hitting the 40 win mark tonight, however, the P-Bruins hit the 20 loss mark and had their 5-game winning streak broken. They are now 39-20-0-5 with 12 games left in the regular season, still good for 1st in the division but fall to 3rd overall in the East.

Read more after the cut. » Continue reading “Shark Attack in the 3rd Period Beats P-Bruins”